Thread: Christmas bonus

I remember 35 or so years ago getting a coupon for my choice of a free ham or turkey at the local grocery. It was a very small ham if I remember correctly but it was a nice Christmas dinner for my new wife and I.

The large company I retired from had a Christmas party every year but no bonus. They sat up tables with the usual oranges and apples and a handful of nuts for everyone. I remember one year being told to go to the party on your breaktime..No one went that year and I never went again.

You people that work for a company that apprechiates your efforts and give you a Christmas bonus need to thank your lucky stars and the company you work for.

In my opinion if a bonus is given everyone should be given the same amount..A guy who does a good job sweeping the floor is just as important as the best CNC guy. Both have contributed to the success of the company in their own way.

As far as the unproductive bad eggs, well they should have already been gone by Christmas so giving them a bonus should not even be a factor.

Going from the ridiculous to the sublime instead of the usual route, the first job I had on the line at a Ford delaership they told me that everyone started at minimum wage until they proved what they could do. OK with me, since I figured I could make them money and figured that they would do the same for me after I proved it. Skip forward to payday, and I find the other guys edging in to get a look at my check, then muttering darkly between themnselves. Obviously pissed. I finally cornered one of them and asked what was going on. He told me I was making the same money as the guys who had worked there for most of their lives. Some of them were real stars as mechinics and could do anything a Ford might need and do it quickly and only have to do it once. I asked why they would work a job for minimum wage when they could do so much better 20 or 30 miles down the road. By this time there were other guys in the conversation and they started telling me about the $100 bill I could expect for a Christmas bonus as though that made all the difference. I didn't stay long. As I recall, the minimum wage in 1966 was about $1.90 per hour. Sometimes the bonus seems to make more difference than it should.

On the sublime side, I used to have hard maple planks delivered to me in northern NM by an outfit from Albuquerque that specialized in hardwoods. The driver came in once to find out where I wanted the shipment and I wished him a Merry Christmas. He assured me that it already was.

Said " the lumber yard business is always one that suffers a lot from employee theft, nation wide. The company owner found out what the average employee theft level is nationwide for the industry and called us together a few days ago to discuss theft. He said for the year, our losses from theft apeared to be zero, so he was taking the amount that would have been stolen by a normal bunch of shitheels and splitting it up between us." Amounted to a few thousand dollars per employee.

I thought that was pretty cool!....Joe

I think the CEO was misunderstood, he said he was going to BONE-US and we heard bonus

Darn right it was funny!

I'v worked on racing teams most of my life. we always used to get prize money at a pre determined rate based on how the car placed as part of our wages. this is normaly paid at the end of the season. the last team I worked for the owner keped the money till just before christmas and then walked around pomposly passing out the checks personaly and saying "merry christmas" as though he was giveing us something extra! I wonder how much intrest he made on all that money for three months.

Originally Posted by moonlight machine

I'v worked on racing teams most of my life. we always used to get prize money at a pre determined rate based on how the car placed as part of our wages. this is normaly paid at the end of the season. the last team I worked for the owner keped the money till just before christmas and then walked around pomposly passing out the checks personaly and saying "merry christmas" as though he was giveing us something extra! I wonder how much intrest he made on all that money for three months.

Cool! What series(s) did you work for? What was your capacity?

Where I work now end of the year/Xmass bonuses are a huge deal. It is supposed to be part of profit sharing. No body knows the formula they use.
I been there a year and got $800 before taxes. Some guy(Button Pusher, fairly lazy, doesnt put much effort forth) that has been there 25 years got around $10k.

Basically setup to give people that has been there longer the bigger amounts, supposed to also be based on salary.

That guys that get the large amounts think they deserve it becuase they have been there so long. No matter what there work ethics are.

StreetSpeed, I started out sneaking in the pits in the trunk of my neighbors '55 chevy stock car at the local short track when I was about 12. then raced motorcycles, worked on sprint cars more stock cars, IMSA GTP cars in the early 80's On to indy cars, chief mechanic by '89. I ran the test team at the last place I worked, That is until The brite sparks that ran the series outlawed test teams! Up till last year when I became a "luxury we can't afford" I was a fabricator, machinest, prototype designer, builder, inventor, solver of whatever problems happen to come up, and about a thousand other odds and ends. At least for the last 7 years or so I didn't have to travel to the track other than to fill in if someone was out for some reason. It Has been fun, but now at 52 years old it is nice to just walk out to my shop and make things........MOSTLY FOR RACE TEAMS! I know, it's a sickness!!!!!!!!!!

Only bonus I ever got that amounted to anything, was when I worked for my friends shop. He always shut the shop down during the week between Christmas and New Years, and our bonus was being paid for it. Since I was 3rd in line on the call list for the alarm, I was considered to be working (I was salary by the first Christmas) so I got my bonus Check, plus my weeks work check which he always figure in overtime, since I wasn't supposed to be working anyway. Always a great way to start out a week off when they passed out those checks. During the four Christmas seasons under his employ, I never answered an alarm call, or did any work (for him) at the shop during that week, but always got paid well for it.
David from jax

It Has been fun, but now at 52 years old it is nice to just walk out to my shop and make things........MOSTLY FOR RACE TEAMS!

That wasn't a job, it was an excellent adventure!

At my last staff job we would get a $25 gift certificate to a local grocery store. The amount had not changed in 30-40 years. It did not matter if you were the most recent hire or had seniority on the dirt under the building (or if you worked in the department store division vs broadcast). We also had a Christmas party, sometimes done in the studio, sometimes in a function hall.

Management dropped both claiming that they unfairly promoted Christianity over other religions!

BFH.......Bah F***ing Humbug!!!

Rick

The company usually gives us a Christmas party...usually on company time but the last couple of years has been in the evening so that more spouses can attend. We also get anywhere from 1-3 days off to use as vacation time. I prefer that than a monetary bonus. I like my job, but I look forward to the time off from it.
Mike

Originally Posted by boaterri

BFH.......Bah F***ing Humbug!!!

Rick

Behold, a fellow traveller.

This year I stepped into the shop after I was "liquored up" on a half a pot of coffee and feeling pretty brave. I stated loudly so all coud hear, " I know exactly how much goofing off and how much scrapping went on here this year and I'm not too happy about it......don't even think about a Christmas bonus!!!"

The persian kitty ran under the comparator and I don't know where the tabby went to but she got there quick and that left only me.....the perpetrator of the scrapping and goofing off......sigh.

I have always given a bonus at Christmas based on how long an employee can put up with Me!! I give $100 per year plus A paid shut down the week between Christmas and New Year's. At this time of year I also pay any unused vacation and sickdays. I combine Vacation,sickdays, and Holidays and give a total of 21 days a year and let the employee have say and ownership in how it is used during the year. Almost all of my employees opt for The pay in leu of taking the days. This then enables me to shift some tax liability at the end of the year as others have mentioned. This also lets me keep highly skilled employees and machines productive. Seems that it works without any bitching, everyone knows what the other is getting and new hires know as they walk in the door. This has given Me some very loyal employees that I can depend on!!!!

I worked for a company for over ten years and , yes we did geta bonus every year (more or less equivalent of a regular paycheque-two weeks worth of pay). Then I got a job in a unionized workplace for 3.5 years and guess what ? No bonuses !
Now I work for a non union company and bonus is here for me again.

we get a nice year end lunch meeting (that's what they call it) and a few years back they had raffles with tools and stuff but not no more. we do get 4 to 5 paid days off, if we chose to work it's overtime so after everything it can be 2.5 X's your normal salary. we get the equivalent to almost a week and a half worth of money so figure:

4-5 paid days
optional overtime
year end lunch
week and a half equivalent money

... we're appreciated here, that's why I'm staying
sometimes it's not how much you make, but how comfortable is the work area
-Andres

Limy Sami
With the current state of the economy I wouldn't be paying one, any c*** would be answered with. 'You've still got a job.'

This is the boss no one wants to work for
Seriously... if you have good employees then reward them
I guess some thing never change
-Andres

I've only had 3 employees max, on the payroll at any given time in the 8 yrs in business, down to 1 now, and he's a good 1.
In a good year, I'd give a small bonus $100-$200, some tools (Good calipers, allen wrenches, indicators, etc-stuff they needed) and a little dinner ranging from pizza and beer in the shop, where we'd knock off at 12:30 -1:00, depending on the workload, and BS for a couple of hours, or worse. Depends on how much beer was involved.... Or a good steak dinner at the Elk Lodge forthem and their SO.
As we're small and pretty new, most everything I made went back into the shop (I know -what a dumbass!) and the guys that were still around come Christmas knew it. It was viewed as an investment... (ditto...)
This year, I'll probably pull $100 out of my pocket and give it to Tom, no taxes(that was always a pisser when I used to get them!), and he'll be happy if he can get his 40 hrs in the next week. Like I said, good man. he's smart enough to see what's going on,and glad he's got a job, even for an ******* like me!
I've used the new year as a raise/eval time, and if the guy's 'shtuff' wasn't up to snuff, he found out pretty quick.
The problem is, the St Louis area is inflicted with the union disease, so you see a mix of those seeming to think they're entitiled to a better paycheck than anyone else, bonus, a shot at your wife and a deer stand in your back yard, (!!!) just because they show up for work within 15 minutes of everyone else's start time....
Anyone who's ever made a fuss over bonuses or wages was told that you get paid what you're worth to me. If I've got to kiss your ass to get you to show up and work, go somewhere else - now.
It seems that the good guys get taken care of, and what they make is nobody else's business - period. Bonus or wage wise.

K not to sound like a snot or anything but I just got my bonus for the year and it was about 23% of my salary, not including overtime. Just wanted to throw out a concrete number for the year, as everything up to now has been speculation. Everyone have a Merry Christmas!

Last year mine was 15% probally same about this year. I will know tomorrow. We are a small shop and I manage myself and the guys for the owner. The owners sharing some of the money goes a long ways with everyones moral. Keeps guys loyal and fires them up for the up coming year. Also come mid year (lazy times) they still think to pour it on because bonus is coming around again.